High School Insider: Upstate NY Semifinals Recap

For the first time since the 1979 season, there's no Section III team competing for one of the New York State championships. The Upstate and Downstate (West and East, really) Semifinal match-ups were held Wednesday at Cicero-North Syracuse and at Hofstra University, respectively. In the Upstate bracket, the winners included Section IV Class A's Ithaca and Section V's Irondequoit of Class B and Penn Yan of Class C. Here's a look at what took place in those three games.

Class A: Ithaca 11, Fairport 9

The Ithaca Little Red of Section IV avenged their early season setback to the Fairport Red Raiders of Section V – the top-ranked Class A team in the state and undefeated heading into Wednesday’s match-up – with an 11-9 victory in what has become a respectful, yet competitive rivalry in recent seasons.

Up against an All-American goalie in the Red Raiders’ Blaze Riorden (Albany), the Little Red were selective with their shots from the outset. Getting behind in the face-off battle early, Ithaca still managed to strike first and build a 2-1 lead by the end of the first quarter.

“We had talked about it while preparing for (Riorden) and then even at halftime,” said Ithaca head coach Frank Welch, who leads him team to the Class A state championship game for the second consecutive year. “If he’s looking at you, he just takes away most of the shots. He’s just a real good goalie. We told them to look, and if (the shot) wasn’t 100 percent, move it one more time and try to get it on the backside and get him on the move. … The kids made smart decisions and held the ball when we should have.”

In the second, the Red Raider worked their way back to tie it 3-3, then at 4-4 after Ithaca took the lead back. The Little Red would take a 5-4 lead into the half on Orazio Ciaschi’s goal on the run at a 2:51, the product of a two-man game with Paolo Ciferri up top.

In the second half, the Red Raiders came out hot, scoring the first three goals of the half, tying the game, then taking a two-goal lead when Brian Martin (Binghamton) rolled left to right and buried a shot on the run. But then Ithaca would go on a streak of its own, one that would be crucial to the outcome of the game.

With 3:54 remaining in the third quarter, Eli Lasda – who had been limited on offense in the first half due to having some tough faceoff scraps with Fairport’s s Shane Stickle – won the draw, took it through the defense himself and scored, making it 7-6, Fairport. Lasda won the next draw, drove into the box, drew pressure and dumped to Jaedon Henderson, who made a smart play by hesitating and pulling back to give himself room to plant his feet and beat Riorden, tying the game at 3:37.

“That was big for us, because our other face-off man, Connor Manning, couldn’t go,” Welch said. “His leg tightened up on him real bad. It’s tough to go into this game with one face-off guy. But Eli just played phenomenal for us. We had to take him out on offense and rest him a couple of times, but overall just a great effort.”

Less than two minutes later, Ithaca would strike again to regain the lead as Ciferri initiated from up top, moved left to right and fed on the move inside to Adam Fiore (Guilford) for a beautiful setup and finish. Less than a minute after that, Fiore zipped a perfect pass inside where only Emile Sassone-Lawless could catch it, and the junior, who has come on strong lately, caught and sent it just under the cross bar all in one motion, giving Ithaca a 9-7 lead and all the momentum.

Starting the fourth quarter, Biondi would score Ithaca’s fifth straight to extend the lead to 10-7 as he bulled dodged to the cage, leveling his defender and dumping a shot into the net from feet away. Fairport would try to close the gap, getting an EMO tally from Jay Vakinier at 9:13. But Ithaca would get some padding to make it 11-8 when Riorden made a stop on Biondi, but the ball rebounded into the net.

Getting on the board with another tally from Martin at 1:49, it wouldn’t be enough for the Raiders. And Ithaca, for the second year in a row, advances to play for the Class A state championship, held Saturday in Middletown.
After the game, Welch credited his athletic, rangy defense, including senior Winston Wenham and juniors Luke Mendola and Ryan Emerson, for making things tough for the Fairport offense, which had scored an average of 12 goals a game against top competition. Seniors Derek DeJoe (Syracuse) and Martin broke through a couple of times, but for the most part, Ithaca’s defense was solid and Fairport had to search for looks.

“We asked a lot of them,” Welch said. “We were bringing them up on the wing to contest the groundballs, trying to maintain possession so they couldn’t go on runs. Those guys put in a great effort all the way through.”
Both Welch and Fairport head coach Mike Torrelli expressed their admiration for each other’s program.

“I’ve known those guys for a long time, and the kids are just great competitors,” Welch said. “It’s a good rivalry. We play each other a lot and the kids respect each other.”

“Is there a good loss?” Torrelli said. “No. But when you lose to a quality group of kids and coaching staff from Ithaca, we walk away disappointed for our kids, but happy for them too. They are a class organization and the reason we play every year is because there is a lot of mutual respect between the two programs. It was one those games where it’s tough to have one of us lose. My kids left it all on the field like I asked them to. If we finished some of the opportunities we had in the first half, maybe it’s a different game.”

Welch said it felt rewarding to reach this point and have another shot at a title, one that slipped out of reach in overtime against Farmingdale last year. This time, it comes against Long Island powerhouse West Islip (20-1).

“We want to finish one,” he said. “People keep saying we take another step each year. Well, hopefully the next step is the one we can get. We’ll go down and give it our best shot. We like competing against people.”

Class B: Irondequoit 8, Jamesville-DeWitt 5

The third time was a charm for the Irondequoit Eagles of Section V, the team coached by former RIT standout Craig Whipple. This team had reached this game – this exact game, against Jamesville-DeWitt of Section III – in the previous two seasons, but came up short both times.

With 18 seniors on its roster, Irondequoit was not going to be denied, and a less experienced Red Rams team than in 2011 and 2010 was slowly overpowered by the deep and athletic Eagles, a team with a pack of Division I bound recruits.

Things started out on the right foot for J-D, as the Rams gained a 2-0 lead within the first few minutes. But Irondequoit would score the game’s next six goals, spanning the first, second and third quarters, pulling ahead 6-2 at 4:05 in the third on Briele Caples’ second straight goal with the feed coming from Connor Enright (Mercyhurst).

Off the draw, Irondequoit’s midfielders and long sticks – particularly, senior Loren Caples – made the groundball battle incredibly tough for the Rams, which led to more Eagles’ possessions, allowing them to wear down J-D with meticulous possessions. Jordan Evans, the junior star middie/attackman for the Rams, was forced to play significant minutes on defense and as the game wore on, appeared to be feeling the effects of playing two ways so much. The Rams in general didn’t help their own cause, as in a somewhat uncharacteristic night, the J-D was sloppy with the ball for stretches of time. And they were at a disadvantage in shots as things progressed.

J-D would tack on a couple more down the stretch, including two from McLaren Brady (one of them a dazzling behind-the-back finish), but Irondequoit – led by two-time All-American attackman Nick Doktor (Penn), All-American midfielder Gunnar Miller (West Point), defender Andrew Cordes (Towson) and the Caples twins – was able to hold tight, adding two more goals in the final quarter to keep the Rams at bay and exorcize the demons of 2010 and 2011, both seasons ending in losses to Jamesville-DeWitt.

“The drive, our goal, is the state championship from day one,” said Whipple, a member of the 1993 state finalist Eagles team that lost to Yorktown 9-6 in the Class B championship. “J-D is one of those teams that’s in the way for us. We had to prepare for them. We knew a lot about them, and we were able to come out and do the things we wanted to do and maximize our opportunities to score.”

Whipple said he considers Section VIII’s Garden City the top team in the country in the wake of the Trojans’ win over Yorktown to advance to the final game.

“We’re excited to have the competition in front of us. We want to be the best, so we’re going to prepare to come out and be the best.”

Jamesville-DeWitt head coach Jamie Archer said he sees in Irondequoit a team carried by its seniors.

“I think that was definitely the difference,” he said in comparing the game to the previous two state semifinal battles. He added that the loss would be a tough one to take for a group of players that has experienced so much success in recent years, including a 44-0 run spanning ’10 and ‘11. “I think is going to hit these guys pretty hard.”

Whipple commended his seniors, saying that they were committed to improving on the success they’d had in recent seasons as underclassmen.

“These guys are hungry and ready and they are willing to go out there and give everything they’ve got.”

Up against arguably the top high school team in the nation Saturday in the undefeated Garden City Trojans (21-0), that is certainly the task presented to the Eagles as they head to Middletown for Irondequoit’s second appearance in the Class B state title game.

Class C: Penn Yan 10, Homer 8

The dream season came to an end for the Homer Trojans of Section III, but carries on for a young and explosive Penn Yan team out of the Finger Lakes region. The Section V Class C champions, after knocking off the mighty Silver Creek Black Knights last week, used a 6-1 first quarter and a 7-2 first half to get out in front of the Trojans and then withstand a strong second half effort to walk away 10-8 winners Wednesday afternoon on the Astro Turf at Cicero-North Syracuse.

With some of the very best players in the high school Class of 2014, the Mustangs came out firing, and some of the shots they took early on, though saved by Homer’s sophomore goalie Jonathan Cottrell, ended up as loose balls off rebounds. The Mustangs would capitalize on at least two situations with Cottrell making the initial stop, but the Trojans then losing the fight for the ball. Leading the way in the first half were senior All-American Dylan Yonts (St. Leo), senior Jordan Owen and sophomores Brad Voigt (who now has 62 goals and 45 assists) and Rion Davison (now with 40G/27A).

On the other end, Penn Yan sophomore Brandon Maciejewski, a First-Team All-Section V pick, was tough to beat in the first half before Homer would start to find some openings in the second. He would still manage to make 14 saves (as would Cottrell). Close defender James Burdette, a hulking, rangy defender at about 6-4, was matched against Homer’s Beau Riley, who had gone off for 6 goals and 3 assists against Salmon River. Burdette shadowed Riley and helped limit him to just one goal on the day, and also helped create several transition opportunities.

“We didn’t have any nerves,” Penn Yan head coach Brian Hobart said. “We tell these kids that we practice harder than 48 minutes. So we can go like crazy right from the start. And this postseason, we’ve been doing that. We’ve been getting on the bus ready to go. We got a couple of bounces, got a couple of rebounds early and caught the momentum.”

The Trojans got another big performance from face-off man Conner Johnston (1G/1A), who gave them plenty of possessions and applied some pressure right off the draw on several occasions. In the second half, Homer went on a four-goal run to cut the lead to 7-6. But the Mustangs scored three of the next four goals to pull ahead 10-7 on Voigt’s highlight-reel behind-the-back tally at 2:10 in the fourth.

While the team relied on some of its upper classmen, like Yonts (3G) and Owen (2G), a lot of the spark came from the squad’s youth.

“They’re young kids, but they’ve been around,” Hobart said. “Bradley Voigt and Rion Davison, those kids were our ball boys from third grade to eighth grade and then came up to varsity. So those kids have been around our program for years. We don’t care that they’re in tenth grade. They’re part of our team.”

Hobart said he was pleased to get past any team that comes out of the grueling Section III Class C ranks, featuring the likes of Skaneateles, Lafayette, and reigning state champ, Cazenovia.

Homer coach Tom Cottrell said he sensed Penn Yan handled the pressure of being in the state semifinal situation better than his team did.

That, Hobart said, is why he schedules the way he does.

“We play an independent schedule, and I get the toughest schedule allowed, so when we get to this point in the season, we’re not going to see anything we haven’t seen all year long.”

Cottrell said he looks forward to seeing his entire starting attack, most of his midfield, his best LSM and his starting goalie return next season.

Hobart and his men look onward to Middletown, where Saturday they will face Shoreham-Wading River (17-3) of Long Island’s Section 11 for the state’s Class C title.